Final Thoughts From the Pretty Little Liars Episode “Last Dance”

Thoughts from the season 6 television episode that first aired August 4, 2015.

Synopsis: The school board, fearing for the safety of its students, bans the PLLs from attending their senior prom and their parents try to make up for it by letting them hold a private mini-prom in the Hastings’ barn. However, the PLLs end up at their school prom anyway as Charles lures Alison (Sasha Pieterse) there to meet him and the others follow her in an effort to protect her.

My Thoughts

1. While I could understand the school board’s decision to ban the girls both from the prom and commencement, I also couldn’t help but feel for them too. After all, they were the victims in all of this but are being treated as criminals.

2. That being said, for all the talk about how the school wasn’t interested in having them at the prom, there also seemed to be minimal effort to keep them out when they arrived. Sure, they got a stern warning at one point. But, other than that, they pretty much just roamed the dance freely with zero effort to remove them.

3. I also kind of found it was funny that, considering Ezra (Ian Harding) made it clear he would be very uncomfortable showing up to the prom as a former student’s date, nobody made any mention of it when he actually did. You would think at least one of the chaperones (not that we really saw any) would notice him dancing with her and question it.

4. On the subject of not noticing, where, exactly, were the Rosewood’s finest when it came to all of this? Sure, we learned Clark (Titus Makin, Jr.) is an undercover cop and, at very least, he was on the case. But, Alison and the PLLs apparently walked right past the police officers protecting their house without anyone seeing. They may need to rethink where they are stationing those officers considering, if the PLLs can sneak out, then Charles could easily sneak in.

5. Speaking of Charles, I’m not convinced, at least at this point, him and Rhys (Caleb Lane) are the same person. He, rightfully, deserves to be a suspect given his resemblance to the DiLaurentis family. However, everything in my gut tells me he’s a red herring.

6. Actually, I do have a theory about him. I think he may actually be Charles but, because of constant manipulation by Jessica DiLaurentis (Andrea Parker) doesn’t actually know he is and the Charles that has been tormenting the PLLs is an imposter using his name as a way of keeping them off the scent.

7. Supporting my theory that Rhys either isn’t Charles or, at very least, isn’t the Charles that is tormenting the PLLs was Alison’s reaction when he pulls off his hood. She obviously knows the person wearing it and, to my knowledge, has never actually met Rhys before. Not to mention, he was at her house at right around the same time she was at the prom (again, apparently unnoticed by the police officers stationed right outside).

8. In looking at other suspects, it’s worth noting Sara (Dre Davis) conveniently disappeared right around the same time the PLLs were trying to find Alison and Charles. Other notable absences include Mona (Janel Parrish) and, my favorite suspect, Jenna (Tammin Sursok), who we were told was at the prom but we never actually saw.

9. It’s about time someone other than me started questioning whether Kenneth DiLaurentis (Jim Abele) might have been the one who murdered his cheating and lying wife, Jessica. Leave it to the moms to finally suggest that as a plausible scenario, though it did, admittedly, take them a couple drinks first. And, while they were quick to suspect Rhys as the one who locked them in the basement, it’s also very possible Kenneth (who was obviously hiding somewhere), was the one who closed that door.

10. Speaking of the moms, I always get a bit of a chuckle whenever they are together because they do, in many ways, remind me of an older version of the PLLs. This is especially true of when they went to investigate the basement themselves rather than alerting the police right outside.

Final Opinion

At first, I figured this story would end the same way so many others have, with us thinking they will finally reveal who "A" is but, instead, leave us hanging. However, based on the way the show seems to be setting things up so the various PLLs can leave Rosewood and pursue other things, I am optimistic that is no longer the case and we will finally learn the truth about what has been going on for the past 5 1/2 seasons next week. And, overall, I thought this episode did a good job setting that up.